The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-02-25
ODD EXPERIENCES.
SOME RATHER FUNNY STORIES TOLD
BY PROMINENT CLERGYMEN.

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A Restless boy In the GalIery-An Eng
lisl Pug Dog In the AuditorIum-Ex-
hibitIon of Religious Zeal Among the
Young Folks. o.., tl l'I
~ had an odd experience last Sunday
said ono of tho most prominent clcrgynen
IN tho city. 81 was in the midst of my
sermon, thoroughly warmed to the subject,
and was talking first to tho people GA the
main floor, and then to those il tho gallery,
when l noticed directly in front CT mo a
restless, chubby boy who insisted IL leaning
over the gallery rail. Occasionally no
would get ono leg up as though ho were
going to climb over, and his mamma would
mako a clutch at him and put him down
with bounce on the seat beside her. In
two minutes tho boy would DO again in his
favorite attitude of looking down on the
people below. +d
can undercurrent Of my thought took
up the possibility of tho boy topping over
and his mother clutching at him, grasping
ono foot and Juggling with might AID main
to drag him back, whilo the fat man behind
her eXerted himself in assisting her to main
tain her own equilibrium This stubborn
undercurrent worked persistcntly at this
spectacle until it came to the surface in q
climax that set me laughing in the midst of
my sermon. OF course nothing of the kind
occurred. My secondary line of thought
had simply taken up the rlcrest suggestion
of possibility and worked forward to
ridiculous climax. .....
..u 4 SIMILAR EXPERIENCE.
"Dr. Patterson told mo on one occasion Of
similar experience Of his own. He was
preaching very earnest discourse and was
carrying his congregation with him, when
an English pug dog crossed tho line Of his
vision. The dog attracted the attention of
no in the auditorium, and there was
no reason why it should have attracted the
attention of the preacher, but the thought
came to him that the dog had its tail curled
about as tight as circumstances would per-
init. Then came the question IL tho tail
was curlcd once more what would happen.
Would it not be possible to curl the tail so
tight as to lift the hinder parts Of the dog
and start him walking on his fore feet with
his tail in tho air? All the time he had
been going on with, his sermon, but when
this odd conceit OF giving the dogs tail an
extra curl came over him he burst into
horse laugh. .5.
"The interruption came not only in the
midt1c of q proposition, but in the middle Of
sentence. He broke Off without ceremony
into laugh that startled himself quite as
much as the congregation Once started he
found it very difficult to stop, and although
he used his handkerchief and made pre-
tense of having a paroxysm Of coughing,
still he laughed until the tears came Even
when he started again on his sermon he
found great difficulty in getting away from
this idea of that dogs tail, and several
times his voice trembled and he had to
shake himself as ono in a dream.
Az EXHIBITION OF ZEAL
preachers have odd experiences of
which they say very little said another
minister. ''When I instituted my Sunday
evening meetings was very much gratiied
at the large attendance Of young people.
l attributed tho large audience, of course.
to interest in religious services, and took |
all the young ladies and young gentlemen |
into my heart and praised them withc u |
stint FOR their cxhib3 Ilon of zeal. One night
as I announced the hymn, Il Need Thee |
Every Hour, / distinctly saw young lady |
in one of tho front seats nudge young gen
tlenlan at her side. Three seats back saw
q young gentleman nudge young lady,
and five seats back l saw another gentle
man nudge a young lady. This set me to
and the next Sunday night gave
out the hymn with my eyes wide open, and
as uttered the words, 4 Need Thee Every
Hour saw several people nudge several
other people, and my notions of the zeal of
these young ladies and gentlemen changed.
They came to church to be in each others
,.,. ...
"To change the subject said young
man who had been somewhat embarrassed
listener to the last remark, ~ know young
lady who is greatly misunderstood because
she is always carrying ordinary incidents or
accidents in life to absurd or ridiculous eli
makes. If she sees man slip on a banana
peel, recover himself and give the peel vi
cious kick over the sidewalk she supposes |
case in which the man falls, grabs at tho |
coat tail of the man in front, and no grabs
at another coat tail Of q man in front, and
that man grabs frantically at tho bonnet Of
a lady in front, and finally they all tumble
On the sidewalk; then when her imagination
has played this trick she bursts out laugh
ing wherever she happens to be, and people
look at her in wonder. They cannot under
stand why lady should go into paroxysm
If laughter or go snickering along tho street,
but to her the supposition is as plain as
reality. Inter Ocean "Curbstone Cray
ons."